Jacen's Fight
by mistyblue814
Summary: When Jacen decides to go from being a student of Luke's to a fellow teacher at the Jedi school, Hera never expected the news when it was destroyed. {Just a short about an idea I had of Jacen becoming a teacher at Luke's school and what would happen when Kylo Ren attacks and what he would do. Let me know what you think?}


_**A/N: A short about an idea that came into my mind about Jacen if he attended Luke's school. I'm not sure if I'll write a short action prologue of Jacen trying to talk to Ben, so I'll say the story is finished for now depending on the response this part gets. But please tell me what you think!**_

"General Syn…." Luke's voice trailed off, his voice small and thick with grief. " _Hera_ …." he corrected, moving his head to look up at her. "I'm so sorry."

As he held the lightsaber out to her, she stared at it. Her chest hard and heavy, feeling as though it was stuffed with dirt, that someone put too much in it to make it ready to burst. She felt cold, the way she tried to breathe or make any motion made her feel like she was made of stone. A hallow stone shell with too much in the middle to make her feel like she was too large for it, where the inside was screaming loudly to make her ears ring.

She heard about the destruction of Luke's school, but she had hope.

For a long time she could only stare at the lightsaber.

Kanan's lightsaber.

 _Jacen's lightsaber_.

forcing her arm out, feeling as though she was breaking through glass to move it, her hand trembled slightly as she took the lightsaber.

Had it always been this heavy?

Taking it from him slowly, she moved her fingers over it, tracing some of the designs and grip on it as she moved. There were new scratches on it since the last time, a larger one near the top on one side.

Gulping, Hera's chest trembled as she tried to take in a breath.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Luke had never heard her voice that weak. He never heard it that desperate and drowning with pain. Her face seemed struck with stone, but yet it was twisting with pain.

"He tried to save the younglings from the attack," Luke told her, his voice low and weak as well. "He died fighting to save them. He tried to stop…him."

Luke still couldn't bring it to say his name.

Hera nodded, still looking down at the lightsaber, not realizing how badly her hands were shaking as she stared at it.

The last time she had seen him in person was four months ago when he surprised her by home for her birthday. They had called each other multiple times during then, but it wasn't the same as seeing each other. She hadn't expected him to come from the school, but when she woke up and saw him in the kitchen, she never felt so happy. By then he really had started to grow his hair out. He had even put it back in a pony tail. The image was so uncanny, but then again Jacen had always reminded her of his father. The way he joked, his charm, his smile…

"Is…" he voice was shaking now, her words almost gasping, "is this all that's left?"

Luke shook his head. "No. I brought….I brought him back," Luke answered her.

Hera nodded, a little too quickly as she tried to take in another breath. That was something, at least. She could give him a proper burial.

Leia told him he could tell her what happened, even though she was also grieving. But Luke knew that it was his responsibility to tell her, that she deserved to be told by him. Luke had thought that the worst would be to tell Leia and Han about Ben and the school, but as he stood there in front of Hera as he watched her face twist, her fingers and hands still shaking, he felt his own heart growing heavier.

Hera had trusted him with Jacen.

He had failed her. He failed Jacen.

He failed all of them.

"I'm so sorry," Luke told her again, nothing but true sincerity in his voice. "This is my faul—"

"No."

Hera was staring hard at him, her hands still clutching the lightsaber. Her face was contorted in pain and sorrow, her eyes glossy with oncoming tears.

"This isn't your fault," Hera told him gently, but her eyes were hard, a need for him to know. "I've seen evil all my life, Luke. Even years before you were born. There are things that we cannot control, and unfortunately evil is one of them. People make their own actions."

He wanted to believe that, truly he did. But she hadn't been there. And in the end, neither had he to save the others. Jacen had proven to be more of a Jedi and leader than him.

"I don't blame you, Luke," Hera told him. Or Leia and Han for that matter. No one is safe from evil.

But why did it have to hit her so many times?

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand quickly before looking back down at the lightsaber, she slowly brought it closer to her chest.

"Thank you for bringing him back," she told him, not hearing how her voice shook.

"Hera…"

She closed her eyes, holding the lightsaber close to her chest. Her frown deepened to the point it almost hurt, but she couldn't stop it. She sniffed a bit, her body gently shaking as well.

He was gone.

"He tried to save them?" Hera asked, her voice above a whisper.

"Yes." Luke's own voice was weak with sorrow.

Hera nodded, closing her eyes tighter as she hugged the lightsaber to her chest. She took in a shaky, but deep breath before opened her eyes again, blinking them a few times to try and clear her sight. He died trying to protect them. He wouldn't have wanted to go any other way. He protected others in need, he always had.

He was just like Kanan.

Pursing her lips, she told Luke, still not looking up from the ground.

"I…I'll talk to you in a little bit. Right now I just…" she gulped, trying to hold her voice.

"Okay," Luke whispered. "I'll tell Leia."

Hera nodded, using her tongue to wet her lips but they still felt dry.

Before she could say anything else, she was already turning and walking out of the door, her movements happening before she was truly thinking them through as though she was making mechanical movements.

Every step she took felt weak, but she tried to make them look steady as she walked out of the room. Her steps echoed against the tiled ground as she walked, Luke silent on the other side, his own eyes on the ground, unable to watch her as she walked away.

Her mother. Kanan. Her father. And now _Jacen_.

Leaving the room, Hera had barely pressed the button to shut the door to the room behind her before she fell against the wall of the hallway, her chest finally beginning to heave. She tried leaning against the wall with her own arm, but it was slipping down. She slowly moved her entire side against it to keep her balance, but she found herself still slipping back down. She fell to her knees in a small thump, but barely noticed the pain in her knees as she leaned heavily against the wall, her chest heaving as she tried to breathe. The tears came freely now as she held the lightsaber tightly to her chest, curling into herself as she quietly cried, feeling as though she was breathing through a filled straw.

Jacen was gone. He had died saving his others and she was proud of him. She had always been proud of him.

But that didn't make it hurt any less.


End file.
